MORE than 120 Clarets fans missed half of Saturday's match because of a motorway smash .

Boundary Clarets, from Nelson, and Earby Clarets, were both caught up in the accident backlog on the M6 near to Cannock.

Most of the other coach firms were notified by police about the accident and were able to leave the motorway and use A-roads to avoid the tailbacks.

Neil Conway, secretary of Boundary Clarets, said: "We had hired a double-decker from a coach firm from Heywood Rothwell's and it was the first time we had booked that firm, which is maybe that is why we were not notified of the accident.

"We set off at 7am and got stuck in the accident traffic at about 9.30am. Two lorries had collided and one had caught fire. I understand another two lorries then also crashed. "It then took us three and a half hours to travel just 10 miles and the police ended up closing the motorway." Neil, who owns his own machine metal firm Conway, in Hapton, said London police promised to escort them from the outskirts of the capital to Millwall, but when they arrived at the meeting place the police were nowhere to be seen.

He said: "We called the police and they said they were too busy to meet us but gave us directions. We were five minutes from the ground when the route the police gave us took us under a low bridge, and we were in a double decker! In the end we got out and decided to walk to the ground."

It was 3.35pm when they got to the turnstiles and they had already missed Burnley's only goal scored by Andy Cooke in the 11th minute.

Neil said as Boundary Clarets entered the ground the Earby coach was just arriving - in time to see Millwall equalise in the 70th minute!

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